CHAPTER VIII.

WASHINGTON made his head-quarters at Morristown at the mansion of the widow of Col. Jacob Ford, who commanded a regiment of New Jersey militia during the flight of the American army from the Hudson to the Delaware, late in 1776. This house, yet standing, was built of brick and covered with painted plank. At the time we are considering it stood on the Newark and Morristown road, about three-fourths of a mile from the Village Green.

The general and his suite occupied the whole of the house excepting two lower rooms, which were reserved for Mrs. Ford and her family. On the opposite side of the main passage through the house was the general's diningroom, and immediately over it was his sleeping-room while Mrs. Washington was at head-quarters. He had two log additions made to the house-one for a kitchen, the other for offices for himself and Colonels Hamilton and Tilghman. The building of these additions was so long delayed in that memorable "hard winter" that the commander complained to General Greene, the quartermaster-general, saying, "There is not a place in which a servant can lodge with the smallest degree of comfort. Eighteen belonging to my family and all of Mrs. Ford's are crowded together in her kitchen, and scarce one of them able to speak for the colds they have caught."

In the meadow, a few rods south-east of the mansion,

about fifty log-huts were built for the accommodation of Washington's Lifeguard, then commanded by Major Gibbs. In that meadow Count Pulaski exercised his legion of cavalry, and performed most extraordinary feats of horsemanship for the amusement and emulation of other officers. Among his surprising feats, he would discharge his pistol while his horse was under full speed, throw it in the air, catch it by the barrel, and then hurl it in front as if at an enemy; without checking the speed of his horse, he would take one foot from the stirrup and, bending towards the ground, recover his pistol and wheel into line with as much precision as if he had been engaged in nothing but in the management of the animal.

Mrs. Washington arrived at head-quarters at about the middle of January. She had tarried a day and a night at Union Farm, in New Jersey, with the family of Col. Charles Stewart, a personal friend of Washington and a favorite officer of his staff. His daughter, Mrs. Martha Wilson, gave to a friend an interesting account of this visit at her father's house. She described the distinguished woman as most agreeable in conversation, and in her manners "simple, easy, and dignified." She came escorted by Major Washington (the general's nephew) and ten dragoons, who encamped in an out-building.

Mrs. Washington conversed much with Mrs. Wilson, then a young matron of twenty-two and a widow only a few months, concerning house-keeping and her own domestic affairs. Among other particulars, Mrs. Washington mentioned that she had a great deal of cloth made in her house at Mount Vernon, and kept sixteen spinning-wheels in constant operation. She showed Mrs. Wilson two dresses of

cotton striped with silk, manufactured by her own domestics and worn by herself, one weighing a pound and a half, the other rather less. The silk stripes of the fabric were made from ravellings of brown silk stockings and old crimson damask chair-covers. Her coachman, footman, and waiting-maid, who accompanied her, were all attired in domestic cloth, excepting the coachman's cuffs, which, being scarlet, were imported before the war.* In the practice of this economy and moderation, as in the simplicity of her dress, Mrs. Washington afforded an example to others at that perilous time, for it was the darkest period of the war.

Mrs. Washington was the guest of Mrs. Wilson several times during the war while the former was on her way to and from head-quarters. Their friendship for each other then formed was strong and lasting. The hospitality she had enjoyed under her friend's roof was not forgotten by Mrs. Washington, but was recognized and warmly reciprocated at the house of President Washington, at Philadel phia, by marked attention to the daughter and only child of Mrs. Wilson on her entrance into society. She extended to the young lady courtesies not usually shown by elderly matrons to persons of her age. Mrs. Washington often called upon Miss Wilson, and she was invariably invited to the private parties at the presidential mansion and to the drawing-rooms.†

*See Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the Revolution," vol. ii., p. 18.

A lady describing the appearance of Miss Wilson at a drawingroom has given us a glimpse of the fashionable dress of a young lady nearly a century ago, as follows: "Miss Wilson looked beautifully last night. She was in full dress, yet in elegant simplicity. She wore bookmuslin over white mantua, trimmed with broad lace round the neck,

When Mrs. Washington arrived at head-quarters, Mrs. General Greene and the wives of other officers were already in camp. The winter was one of unusual severity. So intense was the cold in January that New York Bay was so thickly frozen over that large bodies of troops with heavy cannons passed over the ice-bridge from New York City to

WASHINGTON'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT MORRISTOWN.

Staten Island, a distance of six miles. Around the camp the snow lay from four to six feet in depth, obstructing travel and preventing the transportation of provisions to the camp.

"We have had the virtue and patience of the army put

half sleeves of the same, also trimmed with lace, with white satin sash, with slippers; her hair elegantly dressed in curls, without flowers, feathers, or jewellery. Mrs. Moylan told me she was the handsomest person at the drawing-room, and more admired than any other there."

to the severest trial," Washington wrote to a friend—“sometimes it has been five or six days together without bread; at other times as many without meat, and once or twice two or three days at a time without either. . . . At one time the soldiers ate every kind of horse food but hay. Buckwheat, common wheat, rye, and Indian-corn composed the meal which made their bread." These sufferings caused many desertions, but not a mutiny.

The nearest portion of the main body of the army was about two miles distant from head-quarters- -near enough to be called into service instantly, if necessary. During the winter many false alarms occurred, which set the whole camp in motion. Sometimes an alarm would begin by the firing of a gun at some remote point. This would be responded to by discharges along the whole line of sentinels. to the head-quarters, when the Lifeguard would immediately march to the home of the general, barricade the doors, and throw up the windows. At each window five soldiers, with their muskets cocked, would be placed, where they would remain until troops from the camp reached headquarters, and the cause of the alarm was ascertained. These occasions were very annoying to the ladies of the household, for both Mrs. Washington and Mrs. Ford were compelled to lie in bed, sometimes for hours, with their room full of soldiers, and the keen winter air from the open windows piercing through their drawn curtains. On these occasions Washington invariably went to Mrs. Ford's room, drew the bed-curtains, and assured her of safety.

Immediately after the arrival of Mrs. Washington at headquarters, some of the principal ladies of Morristown made her a formal visit together, to welcome her to their society.